About fruits, we know that they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers, so they are undoubtedly very nutritious and their consumption is essential for our health and well-being, but the best thing about them is that they are delicious.
Definitely a gift of nature of which we can find many varieties and in all colors of the rainbow. But how much do we know about them? If you are a fruit lover, here are some fun facts about fruits that you probably did not know and will surely want to know.
Curiosities about fruits that surely you do not know
A strawberry is technically neither a berry nor a fruit
By definition, botanically berries have their seeds inside, something that strawberries do not. In fact, the fleshy fruit we see is actually the enlarged receptacle of a flower, a false fruit known as a pseudocarp.
The surprising thing is that the seeds that we see on the outside of the strawberry are the real fruits and are known as “achenes”, which are actually tiny fruits that contain seeds. This fact makes strawberries the only fruits with seeds on the outside, but another curiosity about strawberry fruits is that each strawberry has an average of 200 seeds
Blueberries can bounce
Blueberries apparently have little air pockets inside them that allow them to float and bounce. This characteristic was discovered in 1880 by John “Peg Leg” Webb after he dropped a pile of blueberries down the stairs. Today, blueberry growers still test the athletic abilities of blueberries as a way to determine their quality. So the higher the bounce, the better the blueberry.
The most expensive fruit in the world
People in Japan often pay exorbitant prices for luxury fruits, as it is usually a common gift when it comes to business relationships, but when it comes to curiosities about fruits, Japanese Yubari melons could not be left out. By being the most expensive fruit in the world, it is said that two melons were once sold at auction for the sum of $23,500.
Most commercial fruits are clones
This should come as no surprise if we see supermarket displays full of perfectly identical apples, oranges, or pears. This is because genetic manipulation of the fruit produces fruits with a consistent appearance and taste, leaving aside the unpredictable genetic mutations and unexpected results obtained by sexual reproduction.
Not all oranges are oranges
This is because, in the subtropical regions where oranges are grown, temperatures are never cold enough to cause the chlorophyll in the fruit’s skin to break down, which means that these can be yellow or green even though they have ripened and are sweet.
Oranges are not named after their color
Contrary to what most of us think, this fruit did not get its name from its color. Instead, the word orange is believed to come from a transliteration of the Sanskrit ‘naranga’, which comes from the Tamil ‘naru’, which means “fragrant or aromatic”, which was used to refer to the orange tree, so the name does not come from the fruit or its color but from this tree, which is native to the Indian continent where these languages were spoken.
The apple is not the forbidden fruit
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible never mentions that the apple is the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve tasted. In the Bible, it is only referred to as “the fruit of the tree of knowledge” without specifying what type of fruit it is. The fact that it is known as such is attributed to Hugo van der Goes, who suggested that the apple was the forbidden fruit in his 1470 A.D. painting entitled ‘The Fall of Man’. After which, it became popular around the world to represent the apple as the forbidden fruit.
The secret of floating apples
Apples stay afloat in water as they are 25 percent air.
Coconuts get their name from their smiling face
The coconut’s name comes from Portuguese sailors in the 16th century. It is believed that when they saw the three holes in the coconut that resembled a face, they decided to name the fruit with the word “coco”, which means “smile” or “smiling face”.
A fruit that tastes better than it smells
Durian is a fruit known as the “king of fruits” in many South Asian countries, especially Indonesia and Malaysia. However, this fruit that is covered with small spikes has a horrible smell. Therefore, due to its odor, it is illegal to keep durian in public in some countries such as Japan and Thailand.
Apples keep us alert
Eating an apple is a healthier and more reliable way to stay awake than having a cup of coffee, as it gives us more energy. This is because the natural sugar in apples is more potent than the caffeine in coffee.
The most nutritious part of fruits
One of the curiosities about fruits that very few people know is that the stem, peel, or skin of fruits is usually more nutritious than the actual fruit. Therefore, if you are one of those who peel fruits before eating them, you may not be taking advantage of all their nutrients.
Beware of grapefruits
Drinking grapefruit juice while taking some medications can cause an instant overdose and even death. This is because grapefruit contains compounds that can affect the way we metabolize certain medications, which can lead to our body absorbing larger amounts of the medication beyond what is beneficial, something that in turn can cause medical problems and death.
Dried fruits have more calories than fresh fruits
Although it may not seem like it, this is because the drying process reduces the water content and volume.
Everyone’s favorite fruit
When it comes to fruits, mangoes are the most beloved and number one fruit in the world.
Orange is not the fruit with the most Vitamin C
Although orange is thought to be the queen of vitamin C, in fact, it is surpassed in this by other fruits such as kiwi which has 93 mg per 100 grams of fruit, which is almost twice the vitamin C present in one orange (50 mg per 100 grams), but the fruit with the most vitamin C is guava, which in 100 grams of it has 228 mg of this vitamin.
The largest fruit in the world
The COCO DE MER palm has the largest fruit in the world, with a weight of 42 kg and seeds weighing 17 kg.
Fruit Calcium
Half a cup of figs has the same amount of calcium as half a cup of milk.
Benefits of fruits according to their color
- Red fruits keep your heart strong.
- Orange fruits tend to keep the eyes healthy.
- Yellow fruits keep you from getting sick.
- Green fruits help strengthen bones and teeth.
- Purple and blue fruits help improve memory.
The identity of the tomato
Contrary to what many people think, tomatoes are not a vegetable but a fruit. In fact, they are considered the most popular fruit in the world and have more genes than humans.
There is a tree that bears more than one type of fruit.
It is a tree called “The Fruit Salad Tree.” Although it is a tree, it is obtained through a method of reproduction called grafting.
There is a miracle fruit
Synsepalum dulcificum, also known as “miracle fruit,” if eaten, makes acidic foods taste sweet. In the 1970s, an attempt was made to commercialize this fruit for this purpose, but failed. There are accusations that the sugar industry sabotaged their research to avoid losing business.
Potatoes produce poisonous fruits
You have noticed that your potatoes have fruits that look like little green tomatoes. Do not eat them, as they contain a neurotoxin called solanine, which can cause hallucinations, paralysis, or even death.
There are many types of apple
There are so many types of apples that, if a person were to eat a new one every day, it would take more than 20 years to try them all. To be exact, we are talking about 7000 different types of apples around the world.
Grapes cannot ripen
Once harvested, grapes cannot ripen. Something that makes them different from bananas or oranges, which are usually picked green, and then left to ripen in a warehouse.
We hope you have found it interesting to know these curiosities about fruits and we invite you to share others, we have not included, in our comments section.
ALFA